The present invention relates generally to a system for reproducing information in a material object at a point of sale location.
In the past, owners of information such as the information embodied in recordings (phonograph records and tapes), video games, motion pictures, software, books, handheld calculators, handheld electronic games, greeting cards, maps, sheet music and the like, for example, typically have created such information, embodied the information in material objects and distributed the material objects to various retail outlets (point of sale locations) for ultimate sale to the consumer. This system thus required manufacturing facilities for reproducing the information in material objects and a distribution network for distributing the material objects to the various point of sale locations for sale to the consumer. The manufacturing facilities and the distribution networks represent substantial costs to the owner of the information, which expenses ultimately have resulted in increased costs to the consumer.
For example, assuming the information was a recording of the artist's performances of particular musical compositions, the master recording initially was produced. Then, the master recording was utilized to embody the information contained therein in material objects or, in other words, the master recording was utilized to manufacture phonograph records, cassette tapes, 8-track tapes and various other configurations of material objects. The material objects (the phonograph records, cassette tapes, 8-track trapes and the like) then were distributed to various retail outlets (point of sale locations) for sale to the consumer.
In the recording example, the owner of the information embodied in the master recording initially had to determine how many phonograph records, cassette tapes, 8-track tapes and the like were to be manufactured. After manufacturing, the owner of the information then faced the problem of how to distribute such phonograph records and tapes to the various retail outlets and, once distributed, the owner of the information then faced the problem of collecting the monies due in connection with the sale of such phonograph records and tapes. If the phonograph records and tapes did not sell for any one of a number of reasons, the owner of the information then typically faced the problem of receiving returns of the previously distributed phonograph records and tapes. Thus, such an owner of information might distribute a large number of phonograph records and tapes, receive a relatively high percentage of such distributed phonograph records and tapes as returns, not collect a relatively high percentage of the monies due in connection with the sale of such phonograph records and tapes and, thus, the final result might be that the owner of such information merely ended up with a large inventory of phonograph records and tapes and not enough money collected even to cover the initial investment.
Thus, the owner of the information embodied in recordings faced the configuration problem (how many phonograph records are to be manufactured, how many 8-track tapes are to be manufactured and how many reel-to-reel tapes are to be manufactured), and then the owner of such recording information faced the problems of distributing such material objects to retail outlets and attempting to collect for the sale of such material objects.
When the owner of information embodied in recordings initially advertised and otherwise initially commercially exploited a particular recording, there were no assurances that material objects embodying such particular recording would be available at a relatively large percentage of point of sale locations at a time coinciding with the time of the owner's initial advertising campaign. This, of course, resulted in lost potential sales.
The retailers at the various point of sale locations also faced problems with respect to information embodied in recordings. Initially, such retailers faced the problem of determining which recordings were to be stocked and, then, attempting to determine which configurations of such recordings and how many of each such configuration. Inventory represented a substantial investment to such retailers and such retailers also have faced pilferage problems which has resulted in lost revenues. All of these problems of the retailers translated to a large extent to an increased product (material object) cost to the consumer.
One attempt to circumvent some of the problems referred to above relating to the information embodied in recordings has been to market recordings by direct mail, such as accomplished in a record club approach, for example. With the record club approach, the owner of the information attempted to market recordings direct to the consumer in a manner which would tend to reduce the number of recordings sold for which the owner of such information was not compensated. However, this approach still required the owner of the information to manufacture and inventory the material objects (phonograph records and tapes) and thus all of the manufacturing and inventory problems and the costs associated therewith still remained with the record club approach.
One other attempt to circumvent some of the problems referred to above relating to the information embodied in recordings has been for the owner of such information to advertise the recordings on television for direct sale to the consumer. The television advertising direct sale approach had the advantage of almost virtually assuring that the owner of such information would receive compensation for the sale of a particular recording and, to some extent, the television advertising direct sale approach presented an opportunity for the owner of such information to reduce excess inventory problems. However, the cost of such television advertising has been relatively high and the owner of the information has been required to invest this cost without any assurance that a sufficient number of recordings would be sold to permit the owner of such information even to recoup the initial investment in the television advertising. Also, the number of recordings which could be marketed in a single television advertising direct sale campaign has been limited to a single recording in most instances.
Because of economic considerations, it has not been practical for a retailer (point of sale location) to maintain all of the available recordings in inventory at any given time. Thus, a consumer having a desire to purchase a particular recording might not be able to locate a retail outlet (point of sale location) which carried such recording in inventory and this potential sale simply would be lost. This type of a lost sale represented lost revenues to the owner of the information and the owner of the point of sale location.
All of the problems mentioned above with respect to information embodied in recordings has resulted in a substantial increase in the price of material objects (phonograph records and tapes) to the consumer. Since the actual cost of manufacture has been relatively low compared with the retail selling price of the material objects (phonograph records and tapes), this large money difference has attracted unscrupulous individuals and entities to pirate recordings (reproduce without the owner's permission). A majority of the attempts to solve the piracy problems have been directed to legislative solutions. Although helpful, the legislative solutions still have not completely solved the piracy problems. If the retail price of the recordings could be reduced while simultaneously virtually assuring the same compensation to the information owner, this substantially would reduce the economic incentive to pirate recordings. Further, if the problems of manufacturing and distributing information could be solved, this likely would result in a lower retail price to the consumer while maintaining or increasing the compensation to the information owner.
In summary, the problem which has not been solved by the owners of information embodied in recordings has been how to manufacture and distribute material objects embodying the information in an economical and efficient manner and in a manner which virtually assures that the owners of such information will be compensated in connection with the sale of such material objects.
The various problems referred to before with respect to information embodied in recordings also exist with respect to motion picture type information. Motion picture type information has been available to some extent in at least four different configurations: 3/4 inch tape cassettes, VHS tape cassettes; Beta-Max tape cassettes; and video discs. Thus, the owners of motion picture type information and the retailers (owners of point of sale locations) distributing material objects embodying motion picture type information have to face configuration, manufacturing, inventory, distribution, collection and piracy problems very similar to the problems faced with respect to information embodied in recordings, discussed generally before.
Also, the manufacturing, distribution, inventory and collection problems generally discussed before with respect to motion picture and recording type information have existed in varying degrees with respect to the owners and retailers of various other types of information, such as software, books, handheld calculators, handheld electronic games, greeting cards, maps, sheet music and the like, for example.
Of course, in the past there have been vending machines capable of dispensing material objects at a point of sale location in response to receiving a deposit of a predetermined amount of money. With these vending machines, the material objects still are manufactured and shipped or transported to the point of sale locations.
Also, in recent years, pay, cable or subscription television has become a popular means for distributing television type information. In some of these systems, the television type information only was delivered to the consumer at the consumer's home (point of sale location) in response to the consumer requesting such information and paying an appropriate amount to the owner of such information. The television type information distributed in this manner was transitory in nature (existed only for transitory period of time at the point of sale location). These systems still did not permit a material object embodying the owner's information to be produced or manufactured at the point of sale in response to the owner's authorization.
The present invention provides a means for reproducing or manufacturing material objects at point of sale locations only with the permission of the owner of the information, thereby assuring that the owner of the information will be compensated in connection with such reproduction. The system of the present invention solves the problems associated with manufacturing, inventory, configuration distribution and collection previously discussed and permits sale of material objects embodying information in a more efficient, economical and profitable manner.